Everyone loves panko, or Japanese bread crumb that gives fried foods an airy, light, and super crispy coating, for example: tonkatsu (Japanese fried pork cutlet). I am no exception. In fact, every time I eat out at a Japanese restaurant or izakaya, I would always order a dish of fried appetizer and my favorite is deep-fried oysters or panko-crusted oysters.

In Japanese, fried oysters is called kaki fry or kaki furai, and those two words are probably the first few Japanese words I’d learned. I remember the first time I saw this dish on a Japanese menu. Kaki means leg in Malaysian language, so you could imagine my reaction then! Of course, I found out soon enough that kaki means oysters in Japanese, and that was when I started my love affair with kaki fry (kaki furai). Of course, it also helps that I absolutely love oysters…

To work with panko and make sure that you have the crispiest coating that sticks to the food and doesn’t fall off easily, follow the steps below:

Then, dip the ingredient into some beaten egg to seal in the corn starch

Next, coat the ingredient generously with panko

Finally, shake off the excess panko and deep fry to golden brown.

That was exactly how I made my fried oysters with panko, super easy, fast, and the end result was absolutely crispy and delicious. And I didn’t have to shuck the oysters like this baked oysters recipe. :)

Fried Oysters with Panko (Kaki Furai/Kaki Fry)

Ingredients:

Method:

Rinse the oysters thoroughly with water, pat dry with paper towels. Coat all oysters well with corn starch, follow by the beaten eggs, and finally panko. Shake off the excess panko.

Heat up a deep fryer or a pan with enough oil for deep-frying. Fry oysters until golden brown, then transfer the fried oysters out using a slotted spoon. Drain the excess oil on a plate lined with paper towels. Serve with some lemon wedges, mayonnaise or tonkatsu sauce.